NC Lt. Gov Mark Robinson Thinks ‘Some Folks Need Killing’ And Those Folks Probably You
We should take him seriously.
North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, who’s the current Republican nominee for governor, made remarkably minor headlines last week when he suggested executing his political enemies. Whenever Republicans spout violent, dehumanizing rhetoric, the mainstream media often just labels them “conservative firebrands,” reserving terms like “divisive” for liberals who bully billionaires about paying taxes.
The lieutenant governor’s words were consistent with MAGA’s less-than-subtle threats lately. Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts marked the Fourth of July with these concerning words on the far-right Real America’s Voice, “We are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless ― if the Left allows it to be.” Submit or die, that’s the Real American way.
The New Republic transcribed Robinson’s full rant (watch above). Once again, I stress that we are not related.
We now find ourselves struggling with people who have evil intent. You know, there’s a time when we used to meet evil on the battlefield, and guess what we did to it? We killed it! … When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, what did we do? We flew to Japan! And we killed the Japanese Army and Navy! … We didn’t argue and capitulate and talk about, well, maybe we shouldn’t fight the Nazis that hard. No, they’re bad. Kill them. Some liberal somewhere is going to say that sounds awful. Too bad. Get mad at me if you want to.
Some folks need killing! It’s time for somebody to say it. It’s not a matter of vengeance. It’s not a matter of being mean or spiteful. It’s a matter of necessity! When you have wicked people doing wicked things, torturing and murdering and raping. It’s time to call out, uh, those guys in green and go have them handled. Or those boys in blue and have them go handle it.…
We need to start handling our business again.… Don’t you feel it slipping away? … The further we start sliding into making 1776 a distant memory and the tenets of socialism and communism start coming into clearer focus. They’re watching us. They’re listening to us. They’re tracking us. They get mad at you. They cancel you. They dox you. They kick you off social media. They come in and close down your business. Folks, it’s happening … because we have forgotten who we are.
In Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver, presidential candidate Charles Palantine listens politely as Robert De Niro’s deranged Travis Bickle expresses his overall contempt for society. He’s clearly unhinged and Palantine just wants to get out of the cab unharmed (and perhaps still pick up his vote). That was 1976. It’s 2024 and Robinson doesn’t deliver his violent diatribe from behind the wheel of a cab but inside a place of worship.
The location isn’t shocking or ironic. Robinson is a white Christian nationalist, like House Speaker Mike Johnson and Supreme Court Justice Sam Alito. They all consider secular democracy a threat to their preferred society with its rigid social hierarchy. Robinson is Black, but white Christian nationalists will happily make room for ethnic or sexual minorities who’ll help advance their cause. Once they’ve gained power and vanquished their enemies, it’s likely to become very uncomfortable for people like Robinson or Tim Scott. The “I Told You So” dance is fun but not when you’re performing it inside a re-education camp.
It’s tempting to dismiss Robinson’s hateful rhetoric as merely performative. After all, he was a former rightwing commentator who apparently embraced conservatism like a lover after reading Rush Limbaugh’s tawdry gospel. He made a living mimicking Limbaugh’s brand of ignorant cruelty and eventually broke into the political mainstream with a pro-gun diatribe shortly after the 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. He’s called the survivors who advocated for gun safety legislation “spoiled, angry, know it all CHILDREN,” “spoiled little bastards,” and “media prosti-tots.”
However, his obvious opportunism doesn’t mean he’s not a true believer. He’s attacked queer people, Muslims, immigrants, liberal women of color, and posted his share of anti-Semitic screeds. He’s not a method actor. It’s more likely that he saw in Limbaugh the freedom to unleash his worst self on the world and make a few bucks, as well.
Robinson is a despicable human being, but that’s hardly disqualifying in politics. It’s not as if he’s promoting universal pre-K or mild police reform. He breezed to victory in the GOP primary over state treasurer Dale Folwell and attorney Bill Graham. They are both perfectly normal terrible Republicans, but like the presidential primary, the raving lunatic is exactly what GOP voters want. They’ll accept no substitutes. Donald Trump has endorsed Robinson, of course, and called him “Martin Luther King on steroids,” because he’s a racist. A quick fact-check: Dr. King did not believe “some folks need killing.” Even Bizarro Dr. King from the Bizarro World didn’t promote violence against his political enemies. At most, he just said, “Me have dream.”
Depending on the polls you read, the Democratic nominee Josh Stein has a double digit lead over Robinson or it’s a dead heat. The latter is obviously alarming. Term-limited Gov. Roy Cooper won re-election in 2020 despite Joe Biden narrowly losing to Donald Trump, so it’s possible there are enough reasonable ticket splitters to keep Robinson out of office. He’s not just a bigot. He’s also a buffoon and not someone you’d want in charge during a natural disaster.
The Biden campaign is investing heavily in the state, which Barack Obama carried in 2008 — along with Indiana, it was a good year. Electing Stein is worth the money and resources, as North Carolina is perilously close to becoming a one-party GOP nightmare state. Republicans control the legislature and the state Supreme Court is a blatantly partisan extension of the legislature’s will. The Democratic governor’s veto pin is the last line of defense. Robinson has openly supported further restrictions on abortion beyond the current draconian ban: “We’ve got it down to 12 weeks. The next goal is to get it down to 6, and then just keep moving from there.” You see, Mark Robinson is very pro-life, except for all those people outside the womb who he thinks “need killing.”
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“Some folks need killing!”
“…which will remain bloodless if the Left allows it to be”
I love how they think we will just roll over and die. That we won’t fight back. That we don’t own guns. That we would let them come for LGBTQ+ children, or our undocumented neighbors, or our minority brothers and sisters. Like the Confederacy claiming they’ll beat those Yankee cowards in a week.
One thing Democrats have to hammer home is just how damn weird the Republicans are. This isn't just scary stuff, it's plain weird. "We have to do killing--" Good lord, just listen to that for a minute. Sure, Joe Voter might think liberals are a big preachy on pronouns, DEI sounds a lot like letting underqualified people get jobs because of their ethnicity, and government programs aren't the solution to everything, but what sort of weirdo thinks any of that is worth killing for?
Yes, Stein and people like him should emphasize how they'll improve people's quality of life, emphasize how Republicans won't, but it's also key to point out that "these people are weird, violence-loving extremists, they are not normal like you and me." And hang nuts like Robinson around the neck of "moderate" Republicans who are trying to similarly paint Democrats as the "weird" ones.